Sung Together
by Arena The Inferno
Summary: Tea dreams of singing to the world. Or at least going to a decent college of the arts. Seto Kaiba is the only one who can sponsor that dream. Will she sing her way into his heart? Will his support change her opinion of him? Not a chance.


Title: Sung Together

Chapter: 1

Hi all. It's been a really long time since I did this fanfiction thing. It's been many years, in fact. I guess I just wasn't feeling very inspired. Well, that's all changed now. I'm starting again with this story. Hopefully the years have matured me and my writing. Forgive the writing errors. I am without word and am using a document maker with no corrector. I will attempt to fix these as I go along, but some might make it through the cracks. I hope you all enjoy. So on with the show.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot of this story. All characters and songs belong to their respective owners.

"Well, that doesn't sound right."

Tea adjusted the musical notes she deemed unworthy in her composition. If one were to look, one would find her sitting in the middle of the stage that made up part of the music room, grown out hair in a messy bun held in by tortoise shell clip. She chewed on her bottom lip in thought as she erased the last offending note. She and her keyboard were surrounded by many sheets of both blank, written on and crumpled up sheets of music.

"I really need this to be perfect. They won't give it a second glance if it doesn't meet their expectations. Shake it off, Tea. Try again."

With a look of determination, she hunched over her creation and made her adjustments. After a few minutes, she straightened and placed her second draft on the keyboards attached music stand.

"Here I go." Readying herself she pressed the play button to her prerecorded beat, moved her fingers to the starting keys and began to play. Her voice soon joined the melody she started and together they formed one of the songs she would soon be adding to her audition portfolio.

 _You're the light, you're the night_

 _You're the color of my blood_

 _You're the cure, you're the pain_

 _You're the only thing I wanna touch_

 _Never knew that it could mean so much, so much_ *RIIIIIIING*

Her singing was interrupted as the school bell rang. Her look of irritation was immediately replaced with a look of panic.

"Shit! The late bell! I gotta catch the bus!" Tea jumped up from her seat on the floor and began to scramble to get her papers in order and to put the music equipment away. A minute later she burst through the music room doors and began running down the halls of Domino High to catch her ride home. As she flew past classrooms and lockers a smile formed on her face. Her songs were finally coming together. She would perform these songs in front of the people who would make or break her future. The people who decided if she would attend her dream school: Tokyo University of the Arts. She needed to be accepted to this school. Having focused solely on dancing for the majority of her high school career, she felt as if she had damaged her chances at her true passion which was singing and composing. Having held herself back from being all that she could, she had started her senior year by putting everything she had into her music. Now it was coming down to the last 3 months before she would sing for her dreams. She needed 5 songs the adhered to the rules of the audition. These rules included: 5 songs (ballad, rock, pop, hip hop, and a free choice), 1 music video, one written in a female POV, one written in a male POV, one choreographed, and one song rebooted from an original. All work done to the portfolio is at the expense of the applicant. The applicant must also acquire a suitable sponsor. She had a lot of work ahead of her in a very short amount of time…

Tea finally made it outside and onto the bus before it left the school parking lot. Walking down the aisle, she found a seat towards the back. Digging through her backpack, she pulled out a cd player that contained a disk that she burned on her laptop. It was the latest melody she was to put words to. Setting her headphones over her ears, she pressed play and looked out of the window of her seat to watch the world pass by.

She had 4 songs written and one choreographed but she had no idea how gather the resources to make these songs into reality or to make a distinguished music video. That required skill and money. Unfortunately, those were two things she didn't have and would be hard pressed to find in such little time. She guessed this is why the rules included the need of a sponsor. Having one would definitely help with the financial aspect of things and if she found the right person, they could possibly help with the rest.

Tea's calm expression turned troubled as she furrowed her brow in thought. Her friends would be more than happy to help, she knew. Joey, Tristan, Yugi, Duke, Mai and Serenity would all pitch in, but they had the same resources she did. She needed her entry to be above standard and she refused to put her friends in the poor house to finance her project. Her family was no help either. An absent mother and an abusive father would do little if anything to help. Not that they could if they wanted to. She knew the state of finances. It was quite obvious who she had to go to. She had mulled over this option for weeks now and was finally humoring the idea. Seto Kaiba. Not only did he have the money but his company would be the perfect sponsor. It was local, influential, and resourceful. Not to mention she went to school with its CEO. This was going to be difficult. Kaiba hated her and her friends and now she was contemplating asking him for money and the use of his connections. What was she thinking!? There was little to no chance that this was going to work, but she would never forgive herself if she didn't try. This was her life dream after all.

Noticing her stop was soon approaching she gathered her belongings and stood. When the vehicle came to a complete stop, she made her way down the aisle, down the steps and onto the pavement. Securing her backpack on her shoulders with a shrug she made her way down the street, passing the homes of her neighbors. She lived in a simple suburban area of Domino. The homes here were close together, small and resembled western apartments, but they suited Tea just fine.

Tea pulled her bag rom her shoulders and dug her hand in to search for her keys. Pulling them from the void, she walked up to her do and let herself in locking the door behind her.

"I'm home" She said to no one.

While she didn't live alone, she figured she might as well. There was rarely anyone at home. It's been this way ever since she was old enough to take care of herself. But never mind that. Tea shook her head from her sad thoughts. She couldn't afford to get distracted now. Slipping off her shoes at the door she slid her feet into her favorite panda slippers Yami… Atem gave her last Christmas before his departure to the afterlife. She made her way into the kitchen, dropped her bag on the counter and made her way to the cabinet containing her tea collection. Yeah. A girl named Tea has a tea collection. Well, it couldn't be helped when everyone she knew gave her a different flavor for every gift giving holiday. She was used to it by now. It also helped that she really liked tea. Today's selection was a nice Earl Grey. She pulled the packet from the box and closed the cabinet. Filling her kettle, she began to think on her course of action.

"I could just ask him…" She pondered out loud.

The chance of him just agreeing was laughably small. What she could do would be to propose the idea to him. That was more likely to please his business oriented personality. Hell, he might just get a kick out of it.

"A watched kettle never boils." She said as she set the pot on the stove. She turned it on and made her way to the living room. Her blanket, laptop and TV remote were exactly where she left it this morning. This let her know that her parents had yet to be home. No matter. Tea sat and shifter herself in her spot until she was comfortable. Picking up the laptop she placed it on her legs and opened it.

"I wonder…" Tea whispered to herself. Opening a tab on her web browser, she googled 'Kaiba Corp contact email'.

"No way!" She said with a laugh. "That was easy." She took the ease of her search as a sign she was on the right track.

Among the results she found a link to a list of department leaders and their respective emails. This list included none other than the CEO himself. Copying and pasting the email address to her Gmail account, she proceeded to compose a new outgoing message.

New Message

To: Seto Kaiba (eyes_blue )

Subject: Sponsorship

…

…

…

Should she be friendly? They did go to school together. He was still a classmate of hers. But this wasn't a personal email. This was serious business.

She made an audible groan and rolled her eyes at herself.

Should she be proper? She would need to pull out her dictionary for the bigger technical words. That could take a while.

"Spit it out, Tea." Focusing her thoughts, she placed fingers to keys for the second time today. Hopefully she could make music with these keys too. After a minute or two, her fingers stopped moving and she reread what she had written.

 **Good afternoon, Seto Kaiba.**

 **I'm writing this correspondence in regards to my application to the Tokyo University of the Arts music program. My submission requires me to have a sponsor to assist with or finance the production of my portfolio. If possible, I would like to arrange a meeting with you to explain myself further. You can contact me at vocem_cordis_mei . Thank you for your time and consideration.**

 **Tea Gardner**

"That will have to do." Tea said. Pressing send before she chickened out, she rubbed her eyes and looked at her sent email.

"Well, a watched kettle never boils."

With that, she stood hearing the whistle from the actual kettle she had placed on the stove. In the kitchen she gathered her supplies. Cup, sugar, milk in place she poured the hot water on the tea filled bag and watched it brew. After stirring her ingredients she took a much needed sip. The rich warmth washed through her as she swallowed relaxing her. Closing her eyes she breathed deep. "That's the good stuff." She said smiling. Something was missing though. Spotting her previously abandoned bag on the counter, she pulled it over to dig through it producing her phone. Swiping the screen lock open she activated one of her favorite apps.

 _ **Why the hell not? I'm home alone.**_ She thought with a devilish grin.

Pandora. Dance station. Let's see what happens.

 _Doh._

 _Doh doh doh_

 _Doh doh doh_

 _Doh doh_

"OH yeah! Perfect song!"

Tea recognized the intro instantly. She and the gang played it whenever they were in the car together. She enjoyed it partly because it reminded her of the male members on her friend circle. They even had the dance down. And now was the perfect time to get some practice in. Cue goofy dancing.

 _This hit, that ice cold_

 _Michelle Pfeiffer, that white gold_

 _This one for them hood girls_

 _Them good girls straight masterpieces_

 _Styling', whilen, livin' it up in the city_

 _Got Chucks on with Saint Laurent_

 _Gotta kiss myself, I'm so pretty_

 _I'm too hot (hot damn)_

 _Called a police and a fireman_

 _I'm too hot (hot damn)_

 _Make a dragon wanna retire man_

 _I'm too hot (hot damn)_

 _Say my name you know who I am_

 _I'm too hot (hot damn)_

 _Am I bad 'bout that money, break it down_

 _Girls hit your hallelujah (whoo)_

 _Girls hit your hallelujah (whoo)_

 _Girls hit your hallelujah (whoo)_

 _'Cause uptown funk gon' give it to you_

 _'Cause uptown funk gon' give it to you_

 _'Cause uptown funk gon' give it to you_

 _Saturday night and we in the spot_

 _Don't believe me just watch (come on)_

 _Don't believe me just watch uh_

 _Don't believe me just watch_

 _Don't believe me just watch_

 _Don't believe me just watch_

 _Don't believe me just watch_

 _Hey, hey, hey, oh_

As Tea finished dancing around her kitchen with a smile, she picked up her phone and tea and brought it to the living room intending to continue her dance party there. Her plans quickly changed as she noticed the blinking notification. A single email was waiting patiently in her inbox. The party was over. Rushing to turn off her music and set her cup safely on the coffee table, she quickly opened the file…

 **To: Tea Gardner (vocem_cordis_mei )**

 **Subject: Sponsorship**

 **Why so formal, Gardner? Pretending to be an adult?**

"Are you kidding me?" Tea said to the screen. Should she even be that surprised though? This was Seto Kaiba after all and he took his mockery of others very seriously. Fine. Honestly, she was internally laughing at herself for attempting to be businesslike with Kaiba. Of course he would have seen it as laughable. But what else was she supposed to have done? So, with formalities thrown out the window, she at least felt better in replying to him in a more causal fashion.

 **To: Seto Kaiba (eyes_blue )**

 **Subject: Sponsorship**

 **My fault for trying to be professional when talking about a serious matter.**

Sent.

So much for a relaxing evening. She expected a head ache to visit her in the near future. Maybe she should make another cup of tea. Chamomile perhaps.

1 unread email.

Tea sighed as she opened this one.

 **To: Tea Gardner (vocem_cordis_mei )**

 **Subject: Sponsorship**

 **Serious to you, perhaps. Not so much to me. I have no reason to assist you and you have yet to give me one.**

In her head, Tea could list 5 reasons for him to help, such as his excessive amount of money, or that he didn't need a reason to be nice or that the sheer attempt to reach out to him was a clear testament as to how important this was to her. She could go on and on but, alas, she had to reply.

 **To: Seto Kaiba (eyes_blue )**

 **Subject: Sponsorship**

 **Look, Kaiba. While your childhood might not have started out great, you've made a life for you and Mokuba before you hit puberty using the resources you were given. I'm just trying to do the same. It just so happens that I have a lot less resources at my disposal. So excuse me for trying to do the best I can with what I have. Forget I asked. Sorry to have bothered you. Have a great night.**

Frustrated, she clicked the send but as aggressively as she could and huffed herself further back on the couch. She expected this kind of arrogance but it still aggravated her. It looks like the only thing Kaiba was going to help with was reminding her that if she wanted to get anywhere in life, she was going to get there alone. Rubbing her face with her hands she resigned herself to start her search for a sponsor anew tomorrow. For now, a shower was in order. She should think about what to make for dinner too. Ramen was sounding pretty good to her. With something to look forward to, she made to close the computer.

She had one unread email.

What could he possibly have to say now? More mockery? Did he want to get another snarky comment in before dinner? She might as well open it even if it was to mark the email read.

 **To: Tea Gardner (vocem_cordis_mei )**

 **Subject: Sponsorship**

 **I'll meet you in the school music room immediately after the last bell. You have 15 minutes to present yourself and convince me why I should put my company's name on this. I also expect a demonstration of your skills so I can make sure your little cause is even worth my time. Don't be late, Gardner.**

Kaiba wanted her to present herself?

Demonstrate her skills?

Don't be late?

Was he kidding?

Even though his offer to hear her out wasn't put exactly how she would have liked, she was far from looking a gift horse in the mouth. A minute ago she was certain he wasn't going to give her the time of day but now that he was, she would give him what he asked for and she would make damn sure that he was impressed. Yeah, she had some major planning to do in a very little amount of time but she was willing to work hard. This opportunity definitely would not pass her by.


End file.
